Basketball: How the Breakers got their name

By PETER JESSUP

The New Zealand-based team to play in the Australian National Basketball League will be called the New Zealand Breakers.

Franchise acting chief executive Michael Redman said yesterday that the name and logo, which features a basketball, were chosen after focus group research in January and had been approved by the ANBL board.

He said the word Breakers was associated with "making a fast break" and "fast scoring" that were features of the sport.

The Breakers tag had been the best-kept secret in sport - captain Pero Cameron was told only yesterday, while driving up from Hamilton with the company directors to make the announcement at what will be the home court, the North Shore Events Centre.

Cameron, just back from a season in England, is excited about the opportunity, but expecting tough opposition when play starts in October. "We're rookies and they'll be putting targets on our backs."

But team-mate Dillon Boucher said Cameron's signing had confirmed for the Australians that the New Zealand team were serious and had to be taken so.

The fact that the Breakers were a one-country team was also a selling point in trying to buy players.

Cameron said he hoped the intended four Australian imports would bring the discipline and clinical consistency that local players might not be used to.

Coach Jeff Green was pleased the name reflected the style of play he prefers, and was undaunted by the prospect that it might signal too much of the game-plan to opponents.

Teams were dissected by video anyway, he said. The Breakers would have no shortage of flair. Top preparation was the key.

Cameron, Boucher and Green all backed the standard of the local league as good build-up, especially with players returning from overseas to seek Tall Black representation.

"We'll be peaking after our finals - I don't believe that's a hindrance at all," Boucher said.

Green said Cameron would be rested now and used sparingly for the Waikato Titans to ensure he was not stale, carrying niggling injuries or burned out come October.

"It's my responsibility to protect him for the Olympics [2004], because that has to be his goal as Tall Blacks captain," Green said.

Trials will be held for locals at the Events Centre next week. Negotiations are in progress with Australian tall men and the team are to assemble on July 1.

Redman said the name Breakers was by far the most popular of any suggested.

The words New Zealand were included to give the whole country ownership, and to further that aim, five of 17 home games would be played outside Auckland, with two dates booked in Christchurch.

Wellington and Invercargill were also seen as options.

The team colours are to be released next month after sponsorships and apparel deals are finalised.

Boucher said they had taken heart from the Warriors' reversal of form in the NRL. They hoped to learn from the league side and soccer's Kingz.

But he knew everything was going to change - no more trainings squashed into lunch breaks, and more responsibility.

He would have to bulk up, he said, to take the aggressive body contact he expected. But he was brimming with excitement at the challenge.

The other 11 sides are the Cairns Taipans, after Queensland's snake, the Townsville Crocodiles, who play at The Swamp, the Brisbane Bullets, the Canberra Cannons, the Sydney Kings, the West Sydney Razorbacks, the Wollongong Hawks, the Victoria Giants, the Melbourne Tigers, Adelaide's 36ers and the Perth Wildcats.